Size doesn't matter, seriously.

Working at a lingerie store for the better part of four years has shed a lot of light on the insecurities women hold around their bodies.

As a 22-year-old woman, none of these said insecurities were new to me, but with every passing shift the patterns of vulnerability our customers possess become more evident.

For some women, standing half naked in a change room with a stranger is their worst nightmare, for others it's effortless.

In my opinion, pop culture and society in general has convinced women that their bra size, along with other elements of their appearance, attributes to their identity somehow.

I’m not exaggerating when I say every day, I hear women self deprecating themselves about how they look. Some of the language they use hits me in my core when I hear it.

I’ve had to learn to not internalise and take the things they say to heart. As someone who has always had a big bust, I find it hard to hear people talking negatively around their size getting “bigger”. I found it difficult for a long time to not take these indirect comments as an insult.

When you are battling your own insecurities, it is hard to listen to women you think are beautiful telling you they aren’t. My mind would work in this crazy way where I would almost feel offended by their comments on behalf of them.

It has only been since my own personal journey of growth, that I have learnt to listen to these comments without taking them personally.

At the end of the day, my number one aim at work is to make my customers feel empowered. I believe lingerie at its core has so much power to highlight the confidence within someone.

However, when people come in with ingrained ideas that whatever size their label says, says something about them personally, I have to begin a delicate dance of selling something that fits, while not offending them.

The most important question we ask a customer that is being fitted, is “how does it feel?”. To us that is what it ultimately comes down to. But for some customers, the most important question they ask, is “what size is this?”.

I have actually had people change their mind about an item they are wearing once they have read the size on the tag.

Why are we so insecure about what our labels say? Shouldn’t it just be about how something looks and feels?

It breaks my heart when I do first fittings, and I witness women passing on their own insecurities to their daughters. Passing comments like “Oh she couldn’t be that big already” or “I don’t know where she got those boobs from”, seem harmless, but could easily tear the fragile seam of a pre-adolescent’s esteem.

I wish it was the norm to talk about body positivity from a young age. It is almost taboo to mention a young girl’s changing body in a supportive way.

Puberty should be such an empowering time for someone, however the constant sexualisation of women’s bodies means we can’t mention certain parts of a girl’s physique without sounding perverted.

It’s about bloody time we reclaim our bodies.

Lingerie isn’t for the male gaze.

Of course it's natural to want to show off and dress up, and external validation, especially from someone we love invokes some amazing feelings.

But before that, we need to persist with loving ourselves in our most vulnerable states, and listening to what our body wants and needs at all times.

The beauty of lingerie is there is no one size fits all. It might take some time to find what makes you feel your best, and that’s where it is so important to listen to your intuition and what styles induce those feelings of confidence from within.

There are no rules as to when or where you can wear certain styles. If you want to wear a lacy bodysuit as a top, go for it. If you feel like a boss bitch when you wear a matching set under your work uniform, go for it. Or, if you love the feeling of soft cotton briefs on your body and that is all you wear, GO FOR IT.

Every woman has that recklessly confident version of themselves lying dormant inside.

It is no one else’s job but your own to wake that beast and let her roar.